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Scores are in for July 2024 MBE; how did test-takers fare?

By Julianne Hill

August 29, 2024, 1:42 pm CDT

The July 2024 Multistate Bar Examination boasted more test-takers than the previous year, while the mean score on the just-completed exam went up.

According to an Aug. 29 press release from the National Conference of Bar Examiners, 49,844 examinees took the July 2024 administration, up more than 8% from 45,968 in July 2023. The mean score hit 141.8 in July 2024, an increase of 1.3 points, compared to July 2023, which was 140.5, according to the NCBE.

The higher scores can be explained by the competition that the class of 2024 faced entering law school in 2021, when applications were up 13% over a year earlier and scores for the LSAT entrance exam were 1.27 points higher than the prior year, said Rosemary Reshetar, the NCBE’s assessment and research director, in the press release.

“It is worth noting that 2021 represented a high point in the past decade, with application, enrollment and LSAT numbers returning to their pre-2021 averages in the following years,” Reshetar said. “Typically, when the number of applicants increases, law schools are able to be more selective.”

The MBE is a six-hour, 200-question multiple-choice examination developed by NCBE and administered by jurisdictions as part of the bar examination, typically given twice each year.

Approximately 76% of July 2024 MBE examinees were likely taking the exam for the first time, compared to 75% first-time test-takers in 2023, according to the NCBE. And 24% were likely repeat test-takers this year, compared to 25% repeat test-takers in 2023.

Jurisdictions will soon begin reporting their July 2024 results, which will be reported on the NCBE’s site.